international experts have finally carried out an inspection in the former rebel—held town of douma. the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons said its inspectors had gathered samples, which would now be carefully examined. the organiser of anti—government protests in armenia has said he'll hold talks on sunday morning with the country's long—standing leader, prime minister serzh sargsyan. nikol pashinyan has been leading calls for his resignation, saying that is the only matter he is prepared to discuss. the funeral of the former us first lady, barbara bush, has taken place in texas. she died on tuesday at the age of 92. barbara bush was the wife of george h w bush and the mother of george w bush. former presidents bill clinton and barack obama attended the service. donald trump did not. now on bbc news — politics europe. hello and welcome to politics europe, your regular guy to the top stories in brussels and strasbourg.

on today's programme. the irish border threatened to scupper the brexit talks again. can the uk persuade the eu that there is an alternative to staying in the customs union? president macron at wales the european parliament with his vision for the european union, can it revive fortunes of post—brexit? —— wow was. why is the eu preparing to buy a military grade laser? so all that to come and more in the next half an hour while. joining me for all of it, polly toynbee of the guardian, and camilla tominey of the express. welcome to both. here is oui’ express. welcome to both. here is our guide to the latest from europe injust 60 our guide to the latest from europe in just 60 seconds. there has been some uncharacteristically warm weather across europe this week, but a stressful things were not quite so sunny for martin summer, top civil

servant folla a2 jean—claude juncker. european parliament called for a reassessment of ‘s nomination process. the windrush fiasco in the uk read some meps to raise concerns about the registration of eu citizens after brexit. certainly after the windrush scandal in britain, are we going to be sure the same is not happening to our european citizens? there are more questions for politicians in malta, as 18 international news organisations came together to launch a project. it seeks to continue the work of an investigative journalist who was murdered last you. could the irish border be set to derail brexit once again, with the eu already having said no to the uk's tentative proposals? well, let us pick up on the progress of the brexit negotiations, we are joined by peter foster and the

conservative mp david campbell bannerman. you have said the island brexit proposal is in tatters. downing street disagrees. downing street has got careful with its words. they say they could find a solution at all sides were together productively. that is a big if. what we saw this week, on wednesday it was the end of vibrant of technical negotiations after the european council in march. and my story is essentially that is the two options theresa may put forward have been rejected by the eu. the idea we will collect tariffs on behalf of the eu has been ruled out and the idea that we can sum avoid a hard body in northern ireland by using technical solutions and trusted scheme. it is looking extremely shaky. dew except that, that the personals from

theresa may have pretty much been eliminated. i think the customs partnership, the bigger picture stuff is in difficulty. the gameplan, on the table thaiday don't agree with that at all, i have done my own paper, and the advisor has come up with a solution already. what they are doing comedy game plan is to use the northern ireland border issue to keep us locked in the customs union. they are terrified of us being supercompetitive outside of the eu. right, but if they have rejected those two proposals in the uk government has signed up to the third backstop solution, which is keeping northern ireland in a customs union is not the whole uk, what is the alternative for theresa may? as i say, my research on a technical solution, you are not talking about canada us, you're not ina talking about canada us, you're not in a 300th so many millions, it is six and a half million. —— 370

million. twice as many cross the border than the entire population of northern ireland. you still think the technical solution is viable. what do you say to that? wet as it leave the negotiations? it leaves mrs may trying to square a triangle. she has made three promises, there won't be a hardboard in northern ireland, there won't be bought in the 0c, ireland, there won't be bought in the oc, jointly the customs union. only two of those can alter it at any one time. i think technical solutions could have a role to play. what is clear from, if you read my story from what is coming out of brussels, technical solutions can have a role to play at the margin, but in order to get their the starting point is that we join the customs union. a very senior diplomats are to be the customs union doesn't fix everything but without it can't fix anything. in except that is the eu are clear that the customs union doesn't fix everything and you will need high levels of alignment. this is why it

is so toxic for brexiteers, for david davis, to get a world where those technical fixes work you end up those technical fixes work you end up pretty close to brexit in name only. will we be in the customs in all but name? well, we have got to avoid that. the customs union has 20,000 tariffs. i am amazed that labour are supporting the customs union. you're talking about hurting the poor. 60% tariffs on shoes, on meats, apparel... with this border issue in ireland, or will ireland have to stay in the customs union? their own advisor has an issue to it i'iow. their own advisor has an issue to it now. it is being rejected by the eu. where does it go from here? do you think, at this point, that theresa may, even though she has categorically said and promised britain will not be in the customs union, that she is going to renee korn that? it has been put perfectly. she is having to renege

all the time because she made guidelines that are contradictory. she made an impossible trying all. my she made an impossible trying all. my hunch is that we will end up in something so like the customs union, it may not be called the customs union, because in the end that is what suits us. the fantasy of all this trade elsewhere compared with the tariffs and the barriers put up against as if we don't are just so daunting, as one industry after another discovers what is about to hit them, including even, ironically, the fishing industry who would not be able to sell their fish if there was no deal and no proper customs union. do you agree that is a more likely scenario for the government to agree to? not at all. why? their official position, they have given ground on services, they will pass services, we will have 100% tariff free, 100% quota free deal. that is where we are at. they have agreed that. we will be their largest customer outside the... let

us largest customer outside the... let us get back to the negotiations. michel barnier, according to you, has announced that the talks are going to pause until the northern ireland issue is resolved, is that right? not precisely, actually. what a say in my report is that michel barnier has entered the internal scoping process of the eu. the discussion of the eu about what it looks like has essentially reached a pause because there isn't much else to talk about. until day coupled with a workable solution you don't know what it will look like. if we don't get a deal on ireland byjune, you will be looking at an increasingly flimsy document, non—binding trade document, to go with the agreement in october. do you agree that time is running out? the pressure is on. the point is, we don't have any tariffs. the point about negotiations is it is all about negotiations is it is all about getting rid of tariffs. we don't have any to get rid of. what makes you think the eu is going to

do an about turn on this issue, northern ireland ? do an about turn on this issue, northern ireland? it is putting pressure on because its preferred policy is to force us to stay in the customs union, but that is absolutely ridiculous. not our policy. the policy hasn't changed. it is not as pressure from the eu, it is pressure here too. the house of lords as you know defeated the governor is part of the eu withdrawal bill. how much do you blame the tory colleagues in the lords? i think their vote was absolutely shameful. he you have a very privileged group of people forcing people to be hurt more by their 20,000 tariffs... that is absolute nonsense. have you spoken to the poor? sorry, the customs union... let us not have a battle about who has spoken more to be poon about who has spoken more to be poor. carry on with what you were saying. this is realms of unreality. we are going to get everything we wa nt we are going to get everything we want and we don't have to give anything away instead. what alarms and most of all about the irish border is that i hear a number of conservatives, including boris

johnson, suddenly saying, well, you know, the good friday agreement, it is time we renegotiated, rethought it and you think right, are they really willing to make that sacrifice, over 3000 people killed and they are willing to go back to those days. i think any undermining of the good friday agreement, particularly at this things are very tense in northern ireland anyway with a government in power, is very alarming. how dangerous is this moment? surely the only people undermining the good friday agreement would be the eu if they force a ha rdboa rd agreement would be the eu if they force a hardboard northern ireland. the eu has said it doesn't want it, britain says it does not want it, and islands as it does not want it. this is a negotiation. the government has another strategy. the brexiteers will sake say no deal. it leaves a massive problem for ireland. if it has the common external tariffs slapped on it will have tariffs slapped on beef and it will go bankrupt. if we withdraw the £40 billion pot of cash the eu goes bankrupt. it were at the turnaround

to all of the countries and they could you give us more pleased because we have lost britain's 40 billion. that is a fairly good... where we are now, how much pressure is theresa may under politically here? we have had the house of lords defeat, we have had the motion tabled by tory rebels calling on the government to make being in an eu customs union be an objective, how seriously should she take it? the public voted for brexit. the public does not advocate a peers against the public scenario. brexit has happened. we must not lose sight of what the public wants. nobody knows what the public wants. nobody knows what the public voted for. they know exactly what they voted for. you do not speak to them any more than i have. any polling has suggested that the brexit and remain but remains the brexit and remain but remains the same. you have not had a load of brexiteers pulling their hair row going i didn't vote for this. so

they did know what they were voting for them. they did know. they haven't changed their mind. don't talk over each other. we note that they voted for out. i totally agree people have not changed their mind much about that. what out means...” think it is clear what out means. and out with clear harm and minimal damage. the frustration is being voiced over there, history creates an external eu border in ireland. theresa may does not want to put a border in the irish sea. she has a treaty obligation, the good friday agreement, not to undo the borderless renters of the good friday agreement. so she cannot deliver on that. she cannot physically do that. to david's point, if ireland did not exist, we could be having a discussion about trade—offs and tariffs. because she does not want to break up the united

kingdom and she does not want to ruin the good friday agreement. so what is the solution in your mind for her? she has to join a customs union. it is a rock and a hard place. if you want an all uk solution... she does not want to break up the union. the devolved institutions in northern ireland, it does not solve the problem. we might have done a deal with the americans, but it will still have to be policed on the irish sea border. tikot sign up on the irish sea border. tikot sign up to that. i was going to say, as we sit here, we happy, mop down the road. they talk about £700 billion of deals. we cannot do our own trade deals. doing a greatjob. they have not got one with china, india, the united states. thank you both for coming in. french president, an emmanuel macron, did a star turn at the european parliament this week. adam fleming was there to watch it all. every month a different eu leader has hit the red carpet here at the european parliament to give a speech

sketching out their vision for the continent. no offence to the croatian prime minister or the leader or portugal, but they did not have people lining the balconies to get pictures. the man hailed as the saviour of the eu arrived to the sounds of the marseilles and bowed to joy. sounds of the marseilles and bowed tojoy. his sounds of the marseilles and bowed to joy. his not sounds of the marseilles and bowed tojoy. his not so humble mission, a reinvigoration of europe's entire democracy. a type of european civil war is reappearing where our differences on to see more important than that which unites us in the face of the rest of the world, where our fascination with your liberalism grows every day. there were policies among the poetry. a new front for migrants, support for attacks on tech companies, and a call to reform for the eurozone by the end of spring. before the end of this mandate we must define a roadmap which allows us to advance

step—by—step towards a banking union and the creation of a budget which allows for stability and convergence in the eurozone. he is still going. it has been about three hours. the three hours and more of debate left meps thrill. well, most of them. the president's speech was impressive and very practical. good, good. was ita and very practical. good, good. was it a blockbuster? he is such a start. what can i say? i don't agree with his policies but he is charismatic. he listened more than he spoke and that is always a good thing ina he spoke and that is always a good thing in a politician. thumbs up for emmanuel macron? great. i think is thing in a politician. thumbs up for emmanuel macron? great. ithink is a visionary. he has a vision we have to support him. he was rather smaller than i thought. like napoleon, i suppose. the messiah was on his way out. next stop, berlin, to cell his plans for the euro to the sceptical germans. the risk on the sceptical germans. the risk on the one hand, and the responsibility on the other hand, they have to go

together. we in germany are against the nationalisation of national debt and we are also not in favour of an own budget for the eurozone. we would like to use the existing framework of the european institutions. so there is some way to go to realise emmanuel macron‘s eurovision. next on the red carpet, the leaders of belgium, luxembourg, poland, and in november, angela merkel. so, emmanuel macron, fated as a hero by some meps. his idea, which many will see as federalism, straightforwardly, that the eurozone should come closer together, a banking union, a bigger budget, is that going to wash?” banking union, a bigger budget, is that going to wash? i doubt it. things are moving emotionally in the other direction. we are seeing a revival of nationalism. i don't think it is going to happen, particularly as he has been very close to the germans, but angela merkel isn't having it, and in her new government any partners aren't having it either. the germans are

very worried at the idea that anybody else is going to control finances, that some central bank will control finances. so i finances, that some central bank will controlfinances. so i do finances, that some central bank will control finances. so i do think so. i think he will be on his own. but he will get huge support for the idea that europe must remember its liberal heart, and at the moment it is letting the polls, the hungarians, get away with things that are not basic human rights that they have signed up to human rights to be members of europe, and yet they are disobeying them, with the decision between keeping the law separate to the executive and so on. i think you might get support for saying we need to get tougher on those people not keeping to the principles. i knew a fan of him, more broadly? the jury is principles. i knew a fan of him, more broadly? thejury is out. he answers a straight question with a straight answer, because he is not from a political background. he is playing an interesting game because

he is obviously in favour of the federalised european project but he is also nationalistic about france. we saw him aligning the donald trump re ce ntly we saw him aligning the donald trump recently on the syrian bombings, and leading the way, which would have played very strongly... as the uk did. yes, i am not condemning it. it plays into the hands of some of the people who might not have been his natural supporters. so here sort of, at the moment, managing to have his ca ke at the moment, managing to have his cake and eat it. he warned of a civil war in that speech, and to shun nationalism, and rising in liberalism, in favour of liberal democracy, but who is going to listen to him in poland hungry or anywhere else —— hungary or anywhere else, when they are asked to cede more sovereignty and when the uk is leading? i think they will in the end, because i think europe's identity and its sense of itself is asa identity and its sense of itself is as a beacon of democracy. why do all

the migrants want to come to europe? because we are a safe place, the upholders of democracy. so why the writers of these populous parties in so many eu countries? they are the ex— communist countries and perhaps they have never quite absorbed the full message of... let's not co nflate full message of... let's not conflate europe with the eu. lots of people find the eu as a political construct an anathema, but think that places i germany and france and britain are wonderful. it is a turning of the tide against the political construct of the eu in britain and other countries, not necessarily, i mean, of course migrants want to come to europe because europe is great. what about looking ahead? do you support the idea of a much closer eurozone, obviously with written outside, and are much closer eurozone? would that be good for the uk? a federal structure, shared budgets and banking, more than they have now? well, if the eu doesn't collapse, it will be in a format anyway. weather it gets ever closer not is up to the

eu. the eu is going to struggle without because lots of people heard jean—claude juncker speaking about increased federalisation and eu armies and the rest of it, not least funnily enough, ireland, who are not sure they want to contribute to an eu army, indeed, they are neutral and only have 5000 troops on their own soil. so some of these plans are opposed by people within the eu. so doesn't rarely matter what the uk says. what about the phenomenon of a new centrist party here in the uk? can the trick that emmanuel macron pulled off work you? admittedly, it isa pulled off work you? admittedly, it is a different system, not residential, but lots of talk about it. nobody can break to our system. it is utterly rigid and keeps newcomers out. look at ukip. you can do well but be slaughtered by the first past the post electoral system. it is jolly first past the post electoral system. it isjolly difficult, and

what macron did was amazing, but we have not got anybody. where is our macron? there has been a suggestion that arsene wenger... laughter people might see him as a corbynista, of course, because jeremy corbyn is a massive arsenal fan. what is interesting about the progressive movement is that on the one hand you have that guide the 50 million supporters but no mps supporting it, and on the other hand there is the alliance which might have 11 or 12 mps. they don't have any money. this progressive movement has to become one... no, they are not going to be successful. lerner and zoo ridge are aligned on europe, but think of all the things that sue barrack has voted for, in terms of austerity, what we have seen happening to councils. there is no meeting of the lines between labour and tory accepts the group about europe. let's leave it there. in a

chat about macron and centrist parties. lasers might seem the stuff of star wars, both the eu is asking for bids to build a new high laser weapon. the plan is to build a prototype similar to this one developed by the us navy, which could take out things like drones and missiles. the uk is also developing a weapon in brussels is said to be worried they would have to rely on non—eu technology after brexit. the plans have led to some in the tabloid press claiming that could be a laser arms race between the uk and europe. here to bring some light on the subject isjustin brock, a military technology expert with the think take risky. how likely is it? there is definitely going to be some form of laser arms race but it will be between united states and china. it is also worth remembering that lasers sound terribly sexy and everybody has seen star wars, they are undeniably

futuristic. that actually, in terms of what they can be used for, they have a few niche applications that are very effective, at least in theory, if you can get them to work ata higher theory, if you can get them to work at a higher power levels for long enough. but for most of the time, a missile or a shell from a cannon is going to be the more effective option. who is in favour of driving this forward? certainly the us navy and the royal navy would love to be involved as well, the uk has an programme which we have christened dragon fire, very much after st george. the problem with a laser is that you have to have huge banks of capacity, cooling batteries, and a large power source of some kind. that basically means they were quite well in theory for ships, that for something mobile on the roads, let alone and airborne, you are stuck with some thing quite low powered. so not useful for the kinds of things like intercepting missiles or drones that people are talking about. so navies tends to be in favour. royal navy, on the other

hand, has other budgetary commitments it is struggling to meet without laser weapons or anything else. so you would not be a fan of written or the eu spending money on this? well, it fundamentally depends on what they want to be looking at. if we are in an era, as we seem to be, where state fret —— state threats, and by that we mean russia, because it is the only country that could conceivably pose a geopolitical military threat to europe, we have far more to do in terms of rebuilding stocks of asic things like spares, munitions, in order to be credibly able to fight a long war in terms of more than a few weeks against the russians. nobody ever starts a war if they think it will be long. as long as russia thinks it can't win quickly it won't fight, so that is all we need to do. have you taken thejedi spirit a little too much to heart, do you think? the tabloids here are talking about laser warfare? notjust that, but james bond and austin powers and his famous laser, which would

threaten to cause some kind of apocalypse. it sounds great technical and i'm glad you summarise it but it doesn't sound like it will be top of the list of the government's priorities right now. that is the impression i'm getting. yes, the armed forces are in a desperate state. you could list of things they need, most of all the navy. but the idea, the concept, that there would be an arms race between europe and britain, if we get to that state of mind, then brexit is not only an economic calamity, it is not a calamity for our future. you've ended where you started. that's the spirit. thank you for coming in and explaining that to us. that's it for now. from all of us fear, goodbye. —— here. good morning. well, after the heat of saturday, some spectacular storms through the night across parts of england and wales. they ease out the way though to start sunday. and sunday, still a few showers through the day, particularly in the west, that fresher weather is behind this weather front, tracking from west

to east throughout the day. introducing atlantic air, sweeping away the warmth we've had and dropping temperatures as that fresher air pushes its way in. we will start the day with some warmer air across parts of eastern england for the start of the day. once the overnight showers clear, temperatures rising quickly. in the west we already have that weather front to begin the day across parts of western scotland and northern ireland, bringing outbreaks of rain, the odd spot or rain, the odd rumble thunder offjust off the east coast of scotland. thicker cloud bringing some showers just to the western fringes of england and wales. but the sun is out towards south—east, east anglia and across estern england, so once the early showers have cleared, it is looking fine for the london marathon, for spectators at least. but probably a bit too warm for the runners, 21, 22 celsius possible. maybe a refreshing shower later. that's all tied in with our weather front, working its way eastwards. it brightens up in scotland and northern ireland eventually. some sunshine. brightening more quickly across parts of england and wales. but we could see the warmth across the south—east spark off some heavy showers later on, there could be a rumble of thunder across east anglia too.

so 23 or 24 in london and norwich, 13 in belfast. we finish the day here with sunshine and showers. showers continue through the night in the northern half of the country. clearer skies developing further south. a much fresher night than we've had over the past few days, all parts of the uk temperatures dropping back down into single figures to start your monday morning. that's a sign for next week, it's back to normal. we're back to factory set for the weather, because it's spring and it will feel like it once again. a cool start to your monday. not a good deeal of sunshine around in central and eastern areas. it will be fine day for many, the cloud will increase. in the west, the cloud will be thicker. spreads into western scotland. then it turns damp, grey and drizzly towards the hills and coasts of the south—west. temperatures where they should be for this time of year. 17 possible in the south—east corner. the south holds onto cloud and patchy rain and drizzle at times on tuesday. some brighter skies, particularly during the middle part of the day. further north, a lot more sunshine around. but more of a breeze and here, a scattering of showers. note the cooler temperatures across the north as well.

they will be with us all as we go through the rest of next week. always brighter the further south you are. further north, frequent showers expected. and like we saw last night, some rumbles of thunder too. hello, this is breakfast with chris mason and rachel burden. social media giants are accused of turning a blind eye to their impact on children. the government threatens to introduce new laws and orders a review into the effects on young people's mental health. good morning. it's sunday 22nd april. also this morning: a new strategy to stop terror attacks at an early stage of planning — police will target up to 20,000 suspects. verne troyer, best known as mini—me, in the austin powers movies has

died, aged 49. which